Genius Thievery
by ForeverFinally
Summary: A chance meeting on Stardust Fields leads to an unlikely partnership between Popple and Fawful.


Notes: this continues on from Superstar Saga, and stars both Fawful and Popple. Because they are love. I've taken liberties with certain plot lines, and also I've not addressed Partners In Time which features Fawful without Cackletta.

Disclaimer: everything belongs to godlike Nintendo.

**Genius Thievery **

_Prologue_

Somewhere on the outskirts of Stardust Fields, a piece of intricate and complicated looking headgear fell and cracked, emitting a low and unhealthy buzzing noise.

When Popple came across it, he was only slightly curious. He was actually very unimpressed more than anything else. But having an instinctual need to take whatever wasn't his, Popple made a hasty look about him, to check that nobody was around, and clamped his hands on the odd contraption.

It's buzzing heightened a little more, and Popple cocked his head, confused.

"What the hell is this-"

"Don't touch headgear!"

Popple turned sharply, to see a BeanBean staggering urgently toward him. He was dressed peculiarly; wearing a red cape with a high collar, almost giving him a villainous quality. His eyes were rather psychotic looking; though currently glazed; and his teeth were bared, making him look a little rabid.

Popple was a coward, really. He'd never admit it, of course. So he began backing away, but consciously kept a tight grip on his new found headgear. He'd found it, after all. So it was his now.

"Hey, back up, pal. I'm warning you. I found this, see." he said in a warning tone.

"No, it's mine! You are giving it to me now in a hurry!" and the stranger staggered a few more steps before falling spectacularly before the bemused Popple.

"Mine now," he said with an unsympathetic grin. He could see the stranger was in quite a battered state, suiting the apparent mess of headgear he was holding. In all likelihood this probably was his, but for all Popples low morals, there was not a chance in hell he was going to give it back to him.

"I protest! It must be given to me immediately." the BeanBean said, feebly trying to reach his headgear.

Popple smirked. "Is it that special?" he taunted, before raising the headgear up over his head. He still wasn't much impressed by it. Then he shrugged, and went about putting it on his head.

"No-no-no! I am warning! Don't wear it!"

Popple ignored the idiotic strangers gibbering, and fitted the headgear on him. The strange buzzing noise it had been making suddenly fell to an ominous hum. And then it began to vibrate.

"Hey..what the-"

"I warned you."

"What's it doing?!" Popple attempted to pull the headgear off him, but it was stuck, firm and stubborn. "Get it off!" he yelled.

"I warned you." the stranger repeated unhelpfully, infuriating Popple even more.

The vibrating intensified and suddenly a whole array of buttons lit up a ferocious bright red. And then were accompanied by a high pitched beeping.

Popple, more panicked than ever, prised and tugged at the unmoving headpiece, growling as he did. Then the beeping stopped.

For a moment, Popple relaxed into relief. False alarm. He was safe. Stupid headgear.

Then a single beep.

And an explosion.

&&&

_A little earlier..._

Fawful hated common thievery.

It was an underhanded, improper and mindless profession. If profession was even the worthy word for it, of course.

It wasn't, Fawful decided.

So that was why it was all the more painful when he himself, a self proclaimed genius, had been reduced to such lowly and desperate measures.

Not his fault, of course.

Since Cackletta's recent downfall, Fawful had been rendered jobless and effectively a wanted Bean. Never one for travel, Fawful had a hard time finding his way out of the tangled mess of explosion; caused by Bowser Koopa's castle. But then he'd headed; battered and broken, in the vague direction north, knowing that if he kept on trekking he'd make his way to the Mushroom Kingdom where he might not be such a wanted criminal.

But it was a harsh and long journey, especially when his most beloved contraption; his headgear, was broken. Because of this he had to walk on foot, and on the way he'd encountered various creatures; ranging from Bowser's minions to patrolling Beans who were most probably keeping eyes wide open for himself.

So, in order to survive, Fawful had resorted to thievery. He often comforted himself with the reasoning that he was just doing this to survive. It certainly wasn't something he enjoyed.

He missed his laboratory, where he tinkered with various genius inventions, and passed them on to his worthy mistress; Cackletta.

He missed her so much already. She had been so appreciative of his obvious talent. And now she was gone.

And so with his bitterness, Fawful nursed a horrible loathing for the Mario Brothers, and all those involved in the entire defeat of Cackletta.

One day, he had decided with vengeful determination, he was going to get them all back..

With this somewhat uplifting thought in mind, Fawful had managed to remain spirited for a large portion of his journey toward the Mushroom Kingdom. But as his trekking had lengthened, his weariness had grew.

By the time he had reached the Stardust Fields, he was on the verge of collapse. He had refrained from thievery for food in these areas, mainly because it seemed to be more undignified than usual; stealing from those which were once poorer than himself.

So when he neared the very outskirts of the Fields, he was hungry, weak and tired.

Pride was often a killer.

"Oh...I am finished certainly," he spoke to himself in resignation. "If only my headgear properly worked." he blinked down at the almost useless contraption. He had held it for his entire journey, unable to part with his precious creation. Somewhere in the back of an optimistic mind he had hoped he might fix it when he reached the Mushroom Kingdom.

But now...he doubted he was even going to get there.

The realisation of this very probable fact began to sink in.

Fawful cried out in desperate anguish, and then glared down at the headgear. It was no longer an object of fondness; now it was something to be reviled, to be blamed for this entire mess. Then he switched a flick on the contraption, and tossed it as far as his feeble throw could manage across the Stardust Fields.

He'd be minutely satisfied by it's self destruction, if nothing else.

So he waited in blissful silence for its end, and he supposed his own end, to come. He would have closed his eyes, awaiting a heavenly explosion, if not for the foolish stranger which happened to cross by at that precise moment.

It was a BeanBean, and it walked very lithely and with sinister intent. It seemed almost invisible against the dark backdrop of Stardust, though Fawful could make out it's faintly glowing wide eyes; peeking from behind a mask, and a gleaming grin of teeth.

And Fawful was reviled to discover he'd spotted a Thief of sorts.

He was tempted and curious to know what would happen when the criminal laid hands on his headgear, but another far bigger part of him was thoroughly disgusted by the idea. No two-bit thief was going to get their unworthy hands on one of his most prized inventions!

With slightly restored energy, Fawful staggered forwards, his mind made up.

And he yelled his protests as the thief placed dirty hands on his prized creation.

**Chapter 1**

**_Meeting On The Fields_**

Fawful watched with a detached sense of pleasure as the stupid thief stumbled and teetered about in a terrible daze. It all came with the gig of being an evil witches right hand genius after all. Fawful was unashamedly partial to a bit of malevolence.

And so he released his familiar cackle of laughter as the Thief finally collapsed on the floor.

"Told you not to wear it." Fawful tutted, then hesitated before prising the helmet off of the Thief. The Thief emitted a low groan and came to, blinking slowly up at Fawful as he did.

"You...what..." he mumbled. "That was a nasty trick, wiseguy," he finally said in a feeble voice.

"Wasn't a trick," Fawful continued to cackle. "I warned you very much. You should listen good more."

The thief lifted himself slowly into a sitting position, placing a hand tenderly to his head. Then he looked shadily over Fawful, before his eyes lit up in realisation.

"I know you. You're that dork who tried to take over BeanBean with that crazy witch-"

"-You don't call my Mistress Cackletta, or you fear angry wrath!"

Before the Thief could finish his words, he'd received a sound thump over the head with the headgear.

"Ow!" he recoiled. "Stop it, you weirdo," he made a show of standing up. He was taller than Fawful; maybe by about half a head, and it helped to enhance his intimidation somewhat. "Or I might have to steal that lousy thing back off you, see?"

"It'll self destruct again!" Fawful snapped back, hugging the helmet tight to his chest.

"Is that what it tried to do before?" the Thief asked, and he looked amused. "Well that was lame, it's still in one piece, isn't it?"

"It has a safety on it," Fawful glared. "It won't explode on your head, stupid thief. It's precaution."

"Oh," the Thief appeared to nod for a second, before jumping back; affronted. "Stupid thief?!" he spoke incredulously. "You should know I'm Shadow Thief Popple. Legend in BeanBean Kingdom! And never ever seen!"

"I see you now." Fawful looked unimpressed.

"Your stupid headgear nearly exploded on me!" Popple countered.

"That I can only apologise greatly for," though Fawful looked anything but apologetic. Instead he was eyeing Popple with increased and growing dislike.

"Well thanks a lot, buddy." and Popple, thoroughly sarcastic, perfectly mirrored Fawful's look of contempt. "Listen, you should scoot on out of here. Or I might decide to steal everything you have..."

Popple was interrupted from his ranting as Fawful groaned involuntarily and swayed for a moment before toppling forward and collapsing before the Thief.

"Hey, you should listen to me," Popple growled, all the more infuriated.

"I am very hungry." Fawful merely spoke in a mumbled voice.

"Well when did you last eat, Crack pot?" Popple asked, hands on hips.

"This would be...some days ago. Many hours have past since I experienced tasty goodness. It makes my stomach noisy."

"Uh. yeah." Popple was vaguely confused, then his face lit up in apparent inspiration. "Hey, you can be my new Rookie!"

Fawful blinked up at Popple, weariful. "Rookie?"

"Yeah, but forget that for now," Popple enthusiastically scooped Fawful up, dragging him by the arm. "Come on, we have to get you fed,"

"My helmet!" Fawful cried.

"Oh, right." grudgingly Popple picked up the item, and the two made a straggling journey back down Stardust Fields, towards BeanTown.

Fawful vaguely thought about protesting, remembering how long it had took him to get so far, but a more insistent voice told him to just shut up and go to sleep.

&

When Fawful next awoke, the sun was shining brilliantly on him, and all qualms that his kidnapping had all just been a hideous nightmare were shot down. Because the sun never shone in Stardust Fields.

Unless...unless he'd somehow made it to the Mushroom Kingdom?

Fawful was about to congratulate himself on his own travelling genius when a terribly familiar and detestable voice suddenly snapped him back to brutal reality.

"Wakey, wakey, crackpot. I got you some food here."

Fawful opened his eyes, and stood before him was the horrible Thief he had encountered the other day; he was grinning widely and dangling a food tray before him.

"Fawful. I am Fawful," he angrily corrected the Thief. "And you keep away, stupid Thief,"

"Hey, that's boss to you!" Popple looked angry as he slammed the tray of food down.

"Boss?" Fawful was disgusted by the thought.

"Yeah, you're my Rookie now, see?"

"No!" Fawful was horrified. "This is not currently happening! You cannot command...I will not be obeying!"

"We'll see," Popple said with an ominous glare. "Now eat up, Rookie. We need to build your strength."

"Never will I!" Fawful folded his arms, turned his nose up. But his stomach was protesting otherwise. He really was starving. And the food looked very tempting.

Popple seemed to guess as much and he tauntingly waved the tray before his nose. "Mm. It looks so yummy."

Fawful spared the Thief a withering glare before reaching forwards and swiping an apple from the tray. He crunched on it grudgingly. Inwardly, he relished the taste. He could already feel his energy returning. And then finally he'd get away from this terror of a Thief...

"So, since you're my Rookie, we got a lot of training to do, see," Popple said in a matter-of fact tone, "you're pretty weak looking, but I've heard good things about you in battle. I was doing the research last night, see. That weird witch..."

"Cackletta," Fawful corrected venomously.

"-whatever," Popple was dismissive. "She thought a lot of you." he studied Fawful for a moment, looking quizzical. "Can't think why, you're a dorky looking thing, to be sure."

"Don't give me ire!" Fawful warned with a growl.

"Funny talkin' too." Popple grinned. "No matter, I bet you're good in battle, once I've trained you up a bit."

"You are wronged." Fawful shook his head. "I am not a Rookie, I am Fawful and I am genius. I will not be dwelling in Beanbean land any longer." and he stood up, feeling much stronger for his breakfast. "Where am I now? I must go to the Mushroom Kingdom with haste."

"Hey, wait a sec!" Popple was stood in front of Fawful within a second. "You're not going anywhere, see? I told you, you're my Rookie now. I caught you and you call me master."

"Caught me?" Fawful was insulted. "I am not item of your's to be having! And I have no master any longer!"

"Yeah?" Popple sneered. "We'll see about that!" and he leapt forwards; attacking the other Bean.

Despite Fawful's weaker condition, he was a match for Popple. Popple wasn't up to much when it came to hand to hand combat. He preferred being sly and sneaky, catching his victims unaware. And furthermore, it was usually his Rookie's who did most of the fighting.

As a result, Fawful gained upper ground, and managed to inflict as much damage on Popple as the Thief did to him.

"G-arrgh...get off, you crackpot!" Popple yelled, as he was pinned by the angry Fawful.

"You stupid thief! You not Master of me!"

"What's going on?!"

Both Popple and Fawful turned, their fight temporarily forgotten, as two Beans stood before them; dressed quite clearly in police uniform.

"Well, well, what's this...two wanted criminals for the price of one?" one bean said with a grin.

"If I'm not mistaken, it's ole Cackletta's right hand Bean Fawful! And that long time terror Shadow Thief Popple!" the other bean said.

Both Fawful and Popple looked at each other, before springing to their feet and glaring at the policemen.

"A fight, is it?" the first bean policeman said. His partner sided up to him, ready for battle.

Fawful was first to act; he was boiling with reserved fury for Popple, who just so happened to have got them in this situation in the first place. So equipped with such an angry thought as this, he attacked; landing a powerful blow to the first policeman. He wasn't so quick to evade the second one though; who came at him with a hammer.

He was knocked to the ground, dazed.

So this was it. He was going to be arrested, all that torturous trekking wasted. All because of one stupid thief...

"I'll be taking that, see?"

Fawful suddenly blinked out of his daze, and watched with unconcealed surprise as Popple easily snatched away the policeman's hammer, proclaiming it his own with a toothy grin.

For a moment, Fawful wanted to grin too, but then he was snapped back to attention by the first policeman, who had recovered himself enough to charge.

Fawful narrowly dodged the attack and it was countered by Popple; who slammed the Bean Policeman over the head with his stolen hammer.

"Thieves!" the second policeman cried, but he seemed to have resigned to defeat and he retreated, dragging his semi conscious partner in tow.

Fawful watched them leave with reluctant satisfaction. They really had overcome those policemen quite easily, and using thievery, no less...

Fawful turned to look at Popple. The thief was still grinning, Hammer held loosely in his grip, he was panting quite a bit. But nothing could detract from the victorious glint in his eyes.

Again Fawful suddenly had the erratic urge to grin with him. Maybe it was contagious?

He managed to withhold it, instead settling for glaring at the thief.

"That was you're bad fault." he said.

"What? Are you kidding?" Popple said carelessly. "That was great, Rookie!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Still, it could have been worse, I thought it was that pesky Birdo for a minute..." Popple seemed to shudder at the thought.

Fawful had the grace to appear genuinely intrigued by the comment for a moment, but he made a promise to himself not to converse with this Thief for as long as necessary.

"I am going-"

"-You were great with the slam, see I knew you were stronger than you look..."

"I am greatly strong! Much stronger than you, stupid thief!" Fawful growled.

"Hey, I'm boss!" Popple growled back. "I'm training you to be as good as me!"

"Who would want to be a silly thief of stealing?" Fawful looked disgusted at the idea. "And I am worn and feel broken, you do not make it better, you make more trouble. I must escape police and leave."

With that, Fawful turned on his heel and made a quick march in what he hoped was the direction to the Mushroom Kingdom.

"Crackpot!" Popple yelled after him. "How're you gonna survive? You're a wanted Bean, see."

Fawful halted and begrudgingly turned to face Popple. "I shall be fine." And he looked the Thief up and down. "You're wanted too,"

"Yeah, and least I know which way to go, to keep away from the police," Popple smirked.

Fawful decided to disregard his pride for the moment. "Which way?"

"Like I'll tell you now."

"You have understanding of Bean town, and you kidnap me without permission. You owe this favour of help."

"I don't owe you! Popple never owes anyone!" Popple stated, arms folded stubbornly.

"I am understanding," Fawful nodded slowly, as an idea began to formulate in his bruised mind.

It seemed this thief, "Popple" as he was apparently called, knew his way around the Bean Kingdom; he knew how to dodge the law and evade arrest. He could get food, he would be..._useful_.

"I...I will be your rookie." Fawful said at last, swallowing down his pride with painful effort.

"Y-y-ou..." Popple's eyes widened and his grin seemed to cover his face. "That's what I'm talkin' about, see?" and he hopped forward and gave Fawful an amiable slap on the back.

"But you are understanding...which way is the Mushroom Kingdom?"

"Yeah, I know that dump." Popple nodded. "But what does it matter? We got the run of this place, right?"

"The Mushroom Kingdom..it promises much more to thieve. There is many opportunities there." Fawful replied, and he hoped he sounded half way tempting.

"Really?" Popple seemed to ponder. "Well, I'm game for anywhere which has plunder, see."

"Then we go in that direction?" Fawful eyed the thief with hopeful eagerness. "Boss?" he added as an afterthought.

Popple grinned wickedly and nodded. "Ok Rookie. It's a deal."

&&&

Review, pretty please? I'll continue if enough positive feedback.


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